Old English comes to the Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center-Theater Lab at 2700 F St. NW in Washington D.C. presents the Shakespearean classic As You Like It through March 20, 2005. Show times are Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Together with the Shakespeare Theatre, the Kennedy Center presents a production especially designed for young audiences. The story tells the adventure of two best friends, Rosalind and Celia, as they escape the palace of the Duke to begin their new life in the forest. This fun, exciting one-hour adaptation of one of Shakespeare's most romantic and character-twisted comedy proves that all the world's a stage and comes complete with feuding patriarchs, angry brothers, love at first sight, and of course, mistaken identities. The mythical Forest of Arden, a place where runaways flee to in attempt to become happy again, proves once more than happiness can only be found within.
After 29 years of business, the Kennedy Center continues to maintain its original vision of great performers and performances from across the nation and the world. It serves as a setting for new works and young artists to be nurtured and is one of the country's leaders in education of the arts. With more than 3,000 performances a year and an annual audience of close to two million, the Kennedy Center is also America's busiest arts facility. The Center also has touring productions and television and radio broadcasts, including the Kennedy Center Honors, the Mark Twain Prize, The Kennedy Center Presents and Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center on National Public Radio that bring in an additional 20 million viewers and listeners.
At the top of the building is the 399 seat Theater Lab, which hosts one of D.C.'s longest running shows, Shear Madness. This hilarious murder mystery is set in a Washington hair salon and is essentially booked indefinitely. The Lab also brings in thousands of children and families every year as part of their Imagination Celebration series. This crowd tends to be a bit older, and so several of the eight performances a week are matinees. Be sure to check out these and other exciting shows at the Theater Lab as well.
The As You Like It production has a running time of 60 minutes. Tickets can be purchased at 800-467-4600 or (202) 467-4600 for $14. More information can be obtained at (202) 416-8000 or at http://www.kennedy-center.org.
--Anusha Gopalratnam
Travels lead Atmosphere to the Ottobar
Pseudo-romantic rhymer Slug and his group Atmosphere are coming back to the illustrious Ottobar once again, so lock up your daughters. Last years fantastic performance found the medium-sized venue packed to capacity with a mix of underground hip-hoppers, teen punk chicks, and everyday weirdos, most of whom will no doubt show up for the encore this Wednesday.
Slug, or Sean Daley as the IRS knows him, has been working with hip-hop in all the elements since he was in high school when he formed the Rhymesayers Collective. Its been a long time since the Minneapolis youth spawned the group which went on to become the basis of independent hip-hop power-label Rhymesayers Entertainment. With his group Atmosphere he has released four highly successful albums, the most recent of which, Seven's Travels, was well received by critics and listeners both inside and outside of the underground hip-hop world.
This new interest from the rest of the outside world might explain the crowd at the previous Atmosphere show. Their breed of underground hip-hop resonates with many independent music communities and mirrors the DIY ethic of early punk acts. Slug and DJ Mr. Dibbs seem to recognize this new crossover ability and even helped start a mosh pit at the last show while Dibbs shredded the boards over a Rage Against the Machine track.
Wednesday's show includes not only Atmosphere but P.O.S., Grayskul and Philmore Brown. Rhymesayers is currently supporting all of these artists, but Grayskul in particular have been touring for the last five years and just recently released their debut Deadlivers. According to the groups bio on http://www.rhymesayers.com the album features the two MCs of the group, Onry Ozzborn and JFK, trading rhymes as well as super hero "alter-egos."
Doors are at 8 p.m. with a 9 p.m. showtime. For more information about the show, as well as tickets, visit http://www.theottobar.com.
--John Lichtefeld
Jill Scott visits D.C.
Born and raised in North Philadelphia, Jill Scott began her performing career by reading her own poetry at local venues. Scott was soon discovered by Amir "?uestlove" Thompson, drummer for Philadelphia jazz-rap collective The Roots, who invited her to join the band in the studio. This resulted in a co-composition titled "You Got Me," which went on to become a top 40 hit in 1999. Erykah Badu sang the vocals that Scott had written and the song ended up earning the singer and group a Grammy.
Since then Scott has worked with numerous acclaimed artists such as Eric Benet, Will Smith and Common. She also expanded her performing experience by touring Canada in an off-Broadway production of Rent. Scott hit Jazzy Jeff's studio with a fury in 2000 and released her solo debut Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1, that July. Her highly anticipated second album Experience: Jill Scott 826+, appeared in the summer of 2001 right after releasing her critically acclaimed single "A Long Walk." Scott's popularity and stardom reached new heights after that, and the track earned her another Grammy nomination in the category of Best Female Performance for the single.
Jill Scott has wowed the musical world with her ability to fuse jazz, R&B, hip hop, and spoken word. Often described as smooth singing, Scott's beautiful voice, deep lyrics, and great beats have earned the admiration of many hip hop fans. Scott serves as the antithesis of the plastic pop singers out there by joining the ranks of great female singers such as India Arie and Erykah Badu who have shunned the mainstream perception of female singers today. You can join the ranks of devoted fans for what should be two nights of fresh beats and old school soul on March 9th and 10th at the DAR constitution hall in Washington, D.C.
--Ammani Luba
